PSU clinches NCAA title, 3 No. 1 seeds place third

ST. LOUIS -- The morning after going 5-0 in the semifinals, Penn State clinched its second straight NCAA team title in Saturday's Session V at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Nittany Lions, despite only having only wrestler, Nick Nevills (285), competing in Session V, mathematically wrapped up their second straight NCAA title before tonight's finals. It's the seventh NCAA title won by the program.

Penn State has five wrestlers competing for the championship tonight and currently has 122 points. Big Ten champion Ohio State sits in second place, 16 points behind the Nittany Lions. Oklahoma State (99), Iowa (93) and Missouri (82.5) round out the top five teams heading into tonight.

Nevills claimed a fifth-place finish at 285 pounds with a 4-3 win in sudden victory over Jacob Kasper (Duke), avenging a loss from Friday's quarterfinal round.

Three No. 1 seeds who fell in the semifinals came back to finish third on Saturday: Iowa's Thomas Gilman (125), Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello (133) and Arizona State's Zahid Valencia (174).

"The bigger deal for me is losing, refocusing, coming back," said Gilman. "That not only shows the kind of wrestler I am, but the person I am, the man I've become. I was in the same position two years ago when we were here in St. Louis. I was that close, but I wasn't mature enough to really ice the cake there against (Alan) Waters in the bronze-medal match."

Tomasello earned his second straight third-place finish by defeating a couple Big Ten wrestlers, Eric Montoya (Nebraska) in the consolation semifinals and Stevan Micic (Michigan) in the third-place match.

"No one wants to be here," said of Tomasello of wrestling in the consolation rounds. "Everybody wants to be in the finals wrestling on the big stage. It's about being tough, finishing off the way you want to finish off with the highest place you can get. That was my mentality going into this one."

Valencia, a freshman, was dominant on Saturday. He opened his day by pinning Zac Brunson (Illinois) in the first period. He then picked up a 15-5 major decision over Myles Amine (Michigan) in the third-place match.

Session V attendance was 18,953, bringing the total attendance to 91,797.

Tonight's NCAA finals are set for 7 p.m. CT and will air live on ESPN. The finals will start at 197 pounds and conclude at 184 pounds.

Comments

They are a powerhouse, and they're going to be great again next year, but unless "impossible" means everything but the Big Ten title, well , yes , they are unbeatable. They didn't win the Big Ten Title this year , did they? I forget.